Abstract

Super bowl: Fragments of C70 or higher fullerenes were easily prepared from 1,8-bis(arylethynyl)naphthalenes. The curved structures were identified by X-ray crystallography. These rigid bowl-shaped molecules have a deep bowl depth (approximately 2.30 Å) and their bowl inversions proceed via an S-shaped transition structure with a very high inversion barrier (approximately 80 kcal mol-1).